Child protection improves after Ombudsman's report

Tasmania's child protection system has been improved after accepting all recommendations in an Ombudsman's report into a 2009 child protection case.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Matthew Daly said the Ombudsman had investigated the case and made recommendations for improving consideration of kinship care as a first step before foster care.

A de-identified report into the case of "Child Z" was released by the Ombudsman on 6 May 2013.

"Child Protection accepts that our actions in this case, despite best intentions, should have been better," Mr Daly said.

"Even though it is not possible for legal reasons to identify the child or the extended family, it is important to know that we have apologised to the extended family for the way the case was handled.

"We recognise that removing a child from the love and care of their extended family is not a decision to be made lightly, and that it can have significant ramifications on that child and their extended family."

Mr Daly said Child Protection had cooperated fully with the Ombudsman.

"We have already used the findings to improve our systems and undertaken additional staff training as a result."

Mr Daly said improvements put in place included:

formal training for relevant staff on the importance of family connections and the guidelines in place that must be followed

introducing mandatory kinship care assessments immediately after a child is taken into care

requiring that team leaders and senior managers provide more adequate supervision to case workers and team leaders check the accuracy of the content in Case and Care Plans and affidavits

a new process in which Crown Law officers mentor and coach staff to ensure affidavits are truthful and accurate